The Daily Do

Do You Want To Calm Overthinking and Overwhelm?

Overuse of terms like 'gratitude' and 'mindfulness' can block the profoundly personal practice of feeling deep appreciation of all that you already are.  Doing rather than judging is the important distinction here....look past cliche and try!

Good thinking needs daily nourishment from an enriching and sustaining pot.  Just like eating, we choose what goes in to feed and grow our thought.  Nourish thoughts with positives, feed inspiring options to your best you, the once a day then on your way, impacting all you do.  

Talking with an old friend words popped out that I never thought I'd say, “Every time I meditate I have a better day”.  Meditation works!  It clears the decks and calms the choppiest of seas, and from a place of stillness you choose well, with reason and clarity. 

Excuses are the words we use to hide truth from ourselves, but simply stop them now and you will free yourself.  That our lives are ours is sometimes hard when there are parts that we don't like, but forgive yourself, be honest, accept and do not hide.  Accept the truth that what you want will take some pushing to, drop excuses, they don't feel good, and you're not fooling you.

Choosing positivity does not mean blocking out all pain. It is not negative to feel! Denial is the clogging mud, and truth helps us to heal.

In distant tomorrows, what is it you'd truly want to read about your past? Think about that now, then set about the task of being as you truly want, here, today, in now.  Write the life you dream of with sweat upon your brow, as it will take effort and it will require carving words in stone…"This is who I am, and where my story's born!"  The ink may have dried on your introduction, opening chapters and on some pages you'd like to mend, but your story is still spooling, you do not know the end.

Expectation is disappointment and anger waiting to happen.  We can control what we do but not all the results of our doing, and that's good, because all the greatness in you is in the now of what you're pursuing.  Put all your focus into what you can control and you care less about what to expect; your goals, your plans, your aspirations become bigger but loose and fresh.

Dissolve conflict by switching from a need to be understood to a need to understand.  Think now of someone that you're banging up against, locking horns or standing firm…then dissolve this gridlock by changing tact from talk to listening.  Then watch as the space you've given them to breathe and open up, releases tension in both of you, and you made this giant step.

Hindsight is the window to what really floats your boat, so go through last year's calendar to learn what lit you up the most. And see what depressed you, pulled the rug from underneath, then plan more of the positives and know what stuff to leave. 

Almost all of the written advice on keeping going, not giving up and persevering, relates to getting through the hard times.  But what of when you're happy?  Do we keep on going then? Or do we down the tools that brought us there?  Too often we give up the good practices that brought us such good times, but that's when we must keep them up, so that we do not lose that shine.

If you feel stuck in your ways, it's because old habits have dug their heals in and want to stay.  It's called homeostasis, which in essence means we physiologically don't like change.  Equilibrium, the middle ground, is in our DNA.  But when you really want change, here's a way to do it...make it fun!  Drop the struggle.  Pleasure is how change is programmed to go from 'dream' to 'done'.

'Giving feels good' sums up finding connection by helping others, and in a world where we are bombarded with doom it's good to remember that you are a force for good, a tiny flame amongst the gloom.  Share that glow and the flame will burn to fire soon.  So if you can help to lift someone up to see them brighter, do it, because just by lifting them you'll feel a whole lot lighter. 

Plant the seed of happiness by changing just your daily habits, the little things you do.  You don't have to notice the change but the change for sure will come, with one small habit formed today, just do it, there, it's done.  This is how you blossom, by making good choices a daily habit.  Choose well, choose who you want to be. Then just do today and you'll have it.

You can use envy positively as a guide to what you truly desire.  Jealously is best avoided and certainly not dwelt upon but a flash of envy can be used as guide to what you truly want of yourself and then you can act on this.  It's most likely that you do not envy those who are not who you'd like to be, so look closely at what you envy and ask, "Is that what I want of me?"

Triggered trip switches of what you do when scared can often harm you more than what you feared. When you wake up and notice this you can change how you react, cope by doing something postive and you will grow with that.

The resistance to change is often the problem and not the change itself. If we change how we see things first, we find that all will be well. But what if we saw these changes as potential to insert and apply new found ways, to lean into the shift, embrace a new chapter and blossom in these autumnal days?

You have the profoundly human freedom of personal responsibility, response ability, your ability to respond. It's not what life throws at us but how we then react that carves our lives in our character and the life we build from that.

Providence helps those who help themselves and the more you practice the luckier you get. The upward spiral, the thoughts become things , the gold coloured spectacles of preference for the positive, the confirmation bias of tuning into the beauty and wonder of this life, well lived.  Make the changes you want to be! 

Lift the lid on what is holding us back from doing, being and becoming all that we can evolve to be and we find.. FEAR!  Fear of failing, fear of leaving, fear of what people think, fear of poverty, fear of loneliness, fear of not being all that we want to be, not being enough.  Push past fear, one fear at a time and you become more free. Your one life is today and you're already free, it's just how free do you want to be?

Let your goals be big ones but get your satisfaction from one day well done.  If your eyes are too far ahead on the prize, today's passion remains unstirred. But when you see the goal as the sum of your best today, repeated, your engine is fired up.  Break down your actions into manageable chunks of 'I will do this today', but also break down satisfaction, one day well done is the sweetest of pay. 

Our ideas need acted on, not thought out beyond a doubt.  It's acting on a vital spark that brings your greatness out.  Failing isn't failing, it's the tool of victory, the try, try and try again of bringing thoughts into reality.  Get ideas out into reality, in all their wondrous, faulty form.  Set to failing and failing again, and let this be your norm.

Too often we blame distractions for keeping us from what we are avoiding. Scape goats appear to block our path to take the blame for our avoidance, noise, children, parents, phone calls and anywhere else we can find annoyance. 'Where we are' is not about the room that we work in, it's where we are inside ourselves that all the work begins. If you want something done, do not wait for when it's right. Grab the heart of A to B, and do that with all your might.

Do you want to change your life?  Change your morning.  Transform the little things you do each day, your daily best is habit forming.  If you change your morning choices your cards fall into place. You are what you decide to be, your morning habits change your days, and your days become your years.  So do you want to change your life? Change one tiny little habit in tomorrow's morning light.

All great things take their time and nothing gained overnight will last for very long.  Trust that in doing your daily best no time is lost or effort gone.  Patience is a proactive skill born from knowing why you're persisting past drudgery and repetition, when it seems that time is resisting.  When your why is far greater than the moment of strained boredom or the self pity of effort unnoticed, your patience kicks in like a blanket resolve, and you return with your purpose reloaded!

Life can be hard and we don't feel like winners everyday, but do these daily practices and you're winning anyway.  The fact that I write this everyday carries with it one huge truth; do these simple practices and consistency is yours!  Harmony from inside out, the eye inside the storm, the one foot in front of the other, the breath when things go wrong.

When tuning in to intuition don't strain to hear the answer that you want, be still to hear the answer.  What you want and what you need are often different things, and your gut feeling does not consider what is easy when it's choosing.  The journey through discomfort to follow what YOU KNOW is right for you becomes a rich and rewarding process that you're pleased to struggle through. 

Have you ever needed a nap whilst doing what lights you up?  There is an unbreakable and unquestionable link between energy and inspiration.  Doing what you love is nature's way of lighting up, transcending tiredness, and over filling that half empty cup.  So today, do what you love and see your energy abound. You doing you is the endless fuel, in the everlasting now.

Self esteem is built from estimable actions, it's not dished out at birth.  From doing things you feel are worthwhile you define your worth.  Retrain esteem by small victories of doing worthwhile tasks seen through, from deciding to completing, these small wins will rebuild you.

Don't wait for others to make you happy, treat yourself for daily joy! Focus on the things you love, ignore what can annoy.  Happiness can be found in a cup of tea, reading, talking, laughs, driving, walking, cooking, running, cold drinks in too hot baths. We can treat ourselves to wellness with the little things we do, so treat the one you love to wellness, treat yourself, yes, you!

The upward spiral is pushed, driven by effort and then momentum kicks in.  But slowdown and the mechanics grind to a halt, it's not downhill, it's self propelling.  Just a little in the right direction is momentums' greatest friend, one step today towards who you must be inside your head.  And the discomfort that this takes is paid in treasure down the line, patient effort spins the upward spiral every time.

Both worries and dreams are projected fantasy but which you choose to dominate your thinking will dictate what comes about.  Fears and hopes haven't happened yet so put all your chips on dreams. Immerse yourself in this thought and allow the deep realisation to tear you from your attachment to worry.  Worry doesn't work! 

If you spoke to friends as you do to yourself you'd have no friends at all, so rewrite the inner voice that makes you feel weak or small.  Take a moment now and step back from your life, remember YOU are your best friend, NOW give you some advice.  Use words you'd use for others, and cut out words you would not use, guide yourself with love and care not anger and abuse.

When trying to be all things to all men we let our own self down. Pleasing all the people, all of the time, can be a heavy torch to drag around.  Trying to fit to others' lives perfectly leaves you mishapen and worn.  Be your own shape!  There's no perfect fit, you are perfect by being yourself.  Fulfiling yourself, becoming ALL OF YOU, is the only and ultimate wealth.

Welcoming or resisting change defines how good you feel, we tend to cling to what we have and fill our future days with fear. Just by sitting now and thinking through the warmth on darker nights, of rusting trees in radiant flare, brightens up this passing light. By leaning in instead of yearning for this time next year again, we embrace the falling leaves and setting sun, as autumn's start not summer's end. 

You are allowed to shine as brightly as only you know that you can, to reach, on your own terms, the limits of ‘Who I Am'.  Don't dim your light for anyone, seek no bush to hide your flame, you paint your own picture and only you define the frame.  Being less than best to fit how you think others need you to be is all imagined fear; let go, expand, you're free.

You can't think your way out of a problem that your actions got you into. You must act. By doing little bits of what you CAN you build trust in yourself. No longer are you the victim of some imagined force that controls your mind through negative channels of the past. Move forward, build solutions in today. How we got here is as it is, but we are not just our yesterday.

What we give attention to is the recipe of the life we live, so focus on what inspires you to give your life that lift.  Today we can do our very best and move, eat well and help.  We can find some stillness, work and listen to others...not just ourselves!  We can read something that lights us up and we can rise on music's ear! These ingredients bake a life that's light and full of air!

There are few plateaus more confounding than when your purpose seems to wane, but be patient and know it will come back again.  Keep on keeping on one day at a time and the world will turn and new purpose will unfold, the fire in you will ignite. And you will feel it's warming air carry you in new directions, meaningful and full of zeal, with purpose and intention.

Would you take something if it helped with stress, anxiety, blood pressure and mood? Take it if it helped you focus, boosted your immune system, and rewired your brain to feel good? I'm sure you would so go ahead and take it, and what to take is time. Time to breathe whilst on your own, deeply in and out, a few minutes meditation, the scientific sort you out.

Confidence is learnt from your repeated actions confirmed with results. Confidence is the sculpture formed from the chisel blows of challenge, overcoming fears and finding that you're fine, pushing past resistance just one more time. Real confidence is learnt from little victories of daily actions over fear. Confidence is knowing yourself, saying, "I CAN OVERCOME because I HAVE DONE and I WILL AGAIN."

Are you grasping tightly to something beyond control? Gripping the world's steering wheel whilst letting your best spoil?  Spilt milk, others' choices, technology shifts and trends are all beyond your immediate control but should not spell the end.  Seize the chance to leap ahead as one that sees the shift, clench your hand around changing now, accept the strain and lift. Acceptance means fluidity and going with the flow, using your energy where it is free and needed most.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become. This is reiterated by so many exceptional people from Confucius to Gandhi, from Richard Branson to Napoleon Hill, as to make it resonate too strongly to ignore as some magical mumbo jumbo. Thoughts become things. As we think, we behave, and our actions dictate our reality.

Vulnerability is a strength not a weakness, the antidote to shame and an open hand to connection. When asked "How are you doing?" or "How was your day?" don't say "Fine" or "Yeh, good", just say the truth. Insipid responses dilute our potential to connect with others. So be open, be honest, vulnerable and strong and you'll find more sisters and brothers.

A morning routine doesn't take time, it makes time. In the stillness of morning you can hear your true voice, and with focused intention you begin with a choice. A choice that will run through the seem of your day, you make time by not doing the things that would get in your way.

Looking on the brighter side of life doesn't deny the struggles we sometimes bare, it just reminds us that even through bad times, joy is still there.  Beauty still radiates around every corner, winter can't halt the days getting warmer, the world keeps evolving in eruptions of life, no matter how dark it is there will always be light.

Anxiety is a word that barely touches the size of what we feel when cowering in the terror of the impending doom that has no reason but feels so real. If you suffer at the hands of anxious, sudden fear, know that there are ways to manage that, and you can start right here.

Nothing interrupts the strain of overthinking about yourself like thinking not of you but of someone else. This release from the contortions of going round and round ourselves again can come in a simple shop visit for a neighbour, or a call to a weary friend. If you have too much self on your mind today, reach out to someone else and give some self away.

If you're holding yourself hostage to “What will they think?” it's time to accept that they won't! This is the real hard hitting release from the prison of ‘everyone's watching' when they don't. The lightness you'll feel when you accept this, the truth that your life is for you, it's exciting, thrilling, exhilarating and free and opens the long road of DO. The whole world's not watching, so jump in, get going, and breathe. Get going, keep going, you're free!

Think of how often you do things to numb, to avoid uncomfortable feelings, but then what you do, you become. So you have not chosen a huge part of your actions, they were all chosen for you by fear and distraction. Imagine replacing those ticks with some stillness, without numbing behaviours your whole life then changes. And changes for good as you learn to enter that peace when your boat of emotions gets rocky or leaks.

Pull on the mantle of your best effort and reap its rich rewards, turn mundane to mastery, dive deep into your world.  Apply your hand to excellence in the humdrum parts of life as practice for the presence that will sculpt you over time.  Depth of presence, the art of appreciation, the gentle wide awake, the open eye and heart to the waves you then create.  Excellence is only your perception of the care you give to things, learn this in the humdrum and the presence that you bring.